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TILL Inc. wins prestigious National Historic Development Award

TILL Inc., a human service agency based in Dedham, recently was awarded first place for best historic rehabilitation project utilizing low income housing tax credits for its extensive work on the former 100-year-old Bloomberg building in Chelsea.

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) earlier this month presented its 2009 J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence (Timmy Awards) to just 10 projects across the country that involved the rehabilitation of older, historic buildings using the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit.

“TILL is thrilled to have received this prestigious Timmy Award for historic rehabilitation,” said Dafna Krouk-Gordon, president and founder of TILL and developer on the project. “Our Chelsea project is an anchor piece which enhances the revitalization of the Chelsea community.”

The three-story building at 241 Broadway is now a unique mixed use that houses a café, a day habilitation program for people with developmental delays and 23 beautiful fully occupied affordable housing units. Mostue & Associates Architects of Somerville were the architects on the project, Vertec Corporation was the general contractor and Dan Violi was the housing consultant.

The building has served many purposes in its history, including a bowling alley, ballroom, movie theater and later the premier furniture store of the city before it fell into disrepair.

TILL took the building over in 1998 to begin a program that soundly and professionally morphed it into its current use that is consistent with keeping the historic beauty of the building.

The “Timmy” Awards were created by NH&RA in 2005 in memory of the late Boston architect and preservation advocate J. Timothy Anderson, a leader in the historic rehabilitation business. Throughout his career, Tim helped pioneer the adaptive reuse of historic buildings throughout Boston and other parts of the U.S. Tim’s notable Boston-area projects include the conversion of the Prince Spaghetti Building into housing, and the adaptation of Old City Hall for mixed-use. His conversion of the old Central Grammar School in Gloucester into housing for the elderly became a national prototype for the reuse of surplus schools in urban areas.